Police slam misleading reports of New Year's violence

Police in the western German city of Dortmund are dismissing reports of arson and large-scale violence by migrants on New Year's Eve.

Several websites outside Germany carried articles in recent days claiming that a thousand-strong "mob" of migrants had attacked police and set fire to a church in the city.

A Dortmund police spokeswoman said yesterday a handful of officers were injured by flying fireworks but none was attacked.

Nina Vogt said a firework struck some netting on scaffolding close to the Reinoldi Church, but the small fire was quickly extinguished. Contrary to the foreign reports, the church is not Germany's oldest.

Vogt said that while there were several arrests and violent incidents in the city of almost 600,000, "New Year's Eve night really was pretty quiet."